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The Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers

Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Flying Scholarship 2019 open for applications until 1st June

The Worshipful Company of Coachmakers’ and Coach Harness Makers’ Flying Scholarship 2019, established in memory of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, is now open for applications. The Coachmakers is a City of London Livery Company, raising and distributing charitable funds to help young people make a start on their careers, predominantly within the aerospace, automotive and coach making industries. Awards focus on training and education, for example by sponsoring scholarships at several universities.

The scholarship, appropriately for its title, offers training to Private Pilot’s Licence standard on the classic and vintage De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moths of the Cambridge Flying Group at Cambridge Airport. It has been said many times that “if you can fly a Tiger Moth – you can fly anything!” and the Cambridge Flying Group has 65 years of experience providing this training.

Applications are invited from young people from 18 to 30 years of age, resident in the UK and who have not previously been awarded any such bursary. Our aim is to offer a significant opportunity to learn to fly in such an iconic vintage aeroplane as the Tiger Moth, whose lessons in flying skills are as appropriate in 2019 as when the aeroplane first flew in 1931. No previous flying experience is required, although evidence of a keen interest in aviation is a necessity.

This year’s scholarship will fund 75% of the cost of the standard hours training required for a Private Pilots Licence with only 25% to be funded on an hours flown basis by this year’s successful Coachmakers Flying Scholarship winner.

Group Captain Marcus Wills CVO OBE, Chairman of the Coachmakers Aerospace Awards Committee said: “This is a very exciting award, and the Coachmakers Company is delighted to play a part in helping a young person to achieve an ambition when otherwise they might not be able to do so. I am sure that, in the long term, learning to fly a vintage aircraft will make a significant contribution to a more widespread general knowledge of airmanship and flight safety.”